When USC women’s basketball took the court Thursday night to face off against Indiana, every member of the team — players and coaches alike — could be seen donning the same shoes: a pair of Nike LeBron NXXT Gen “JW”, a collaboration between junior guard JuJu Watkins and LeBron James that the Trojans had celebrated the debut of the day before.

Apparently, wearing the shoes allowed USC to play like Watkins and James, too.

The Trojans (16-9, 8-6 Big Ten) overcame a shaky start to take down the Hoosiers (14-12, 3-11) 79-73 at Galen Center, notching their fifth straight victory — their longest win streak this season — and improving to 11-3 at home on the season.

“We’re in a position to do all the things we set out to do [this season],” Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a postgame news conference. “We just want to keep getting better and commit to the process that’s gotten us now on a winning streak.”

Trojans take advantage of Indiana star’s absence

Struggles with shooting and getting on the glass saw USC go down 24-13 after 10 minutes — seemingly powerless to stop Indiana’s offense, which shot 9-for-16 in the first quarter. However, a 13-2 run in the second quarter helped the Trojans cut their deficit to just 2 points at halftime, and they managed to hold onto a narrow lead throughout the second half.

Prior to tipoff, the Hoosiers had already taken a major blow with the absence of senior guard Shay Ciezki, who leads the Big Ten with 24.1 points per game. Ciezki was listed as questionable on the Big Ten availability report and did not appear on the court for the first time this season.

However, though the Hoosiers’ star was nowhere to be found, the Trojans’ star — freshman guard Jazzy Davidson — was in top form, putting on one of the best performances of her young career. Davidson notched a team-high 24 points on 8-for-17 shooting, tacking on three each of assists and steals while spending all 40 minutes on the court.

“She makes ridiculous stats look fairly ordinary,” Gottlieb said of Davidson. “We’ve seen for a long time that she’s capable of doing almost anything on a basketball court.”

The former No. 1 recruit also brought down six rebounds, a major aspect of USC’s comeback down the stretch; the Trojans outrebounded the Hoosiers 38 to 32 — including 15 to five on offensive boards — despite a nine-to-five gap in the opposite direction in the first quarter.

In contrast to USC’s aggression on the glass, however, it played a much cleaner game than Indiana on the court, committing just eight turnovers and 16 fouls to the Hoosiers’ 19 and 25, respectively. Six of Indiana’s players were called for at least three fouls, and three fouled out of the game. That group included senior guard Jerni Kiaku, whose fifth came on a Flagrant 1 call that gave the Trojans some breathing room in the fourth quarter.

Smith, Dunn keep up stellar seasons

While Davidson was by far USC’s most prominent scorer, recording 8 more points than the next-closest Trojan, sophomore guard Kennedy Smith and senior guard Kara Dunn both scored in the double digits — a stat that Gottlieb has come to expect from all three of her star guards.

Smith showed off her versatility on both ends of the court, putting up 15 points while nabbing two or more rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. Dunn scored 16 points on a 5-for-13 clip, including two 3-pointers — the only Trojan to make multiple shots from deep — but spent more time on the bench after getting into slight foul trouble in the second half.

As the battle for USC’s No. 1 forward position rages on, redshirt freshman forward Laura Williams got a spot in the starting lineup for the third straight game. While she brought in nine rebounds for the third time in four games, she struggled heavily from the field, making just 2-of-8 shots for 5 points. However, one of those shots capped a 6-0 run in the final two minutes that allowed the Trojans to put the game away.

“She was just an absolute beast on the offensive boards tonight,” Gottlieb said of Williams. “These are her first college games of extended minutes, so her growth has been really tremendous.”

After a rough stretch of losses to start the new year that saw USC fall to 3-6 in Big Ten play, putting an NCAA Tournament bid in jeopardy, the Trojans are playing their best basketball of the season at just the right moment. With just four games left on the regular season schedule, USC appears poised to lock down a spot in the postseason if it can grab a couple more wins down the stretch.

“You don’t all of a sudden win games. It’s [not], ‘Oh, now we’re playing well’ — you do the right things and then you start playing better,” Gottlieb said. “We’re clicking now more because of the way we handled a losing streak.”

The Trojans will have a prime opportunity to get another win when they host Wisconsin (13-12, 5-9) on Thursday at 6 p.m.